e-Gov lessons from Estonia!

The governance part is more important than the ‘e’ part!

samirsachdeva

Samir Sachdeva | June 14, 2010



Minister for communication and IT A Raja was to travel to Estonia to learn lessons in e-governance with a 26-member delegation but he had to cancel his trip as he did not get permission from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The delegation had three MPs and 22 officials as well.

It was strange that the minister who had no time to attend the 13th annual conference on e-governance at Jaipur, organised by his own ministry, had enough time (June 7–13) to travel to the Baltic nation to attend the 20-hour conference along with important officials of his ministry.

Estonia, ranked 20th in the Global UN e-Government Survey, could have offered few lessons to India as the country is very small compared to India in size and population. If international best practices have to be studied, then countries like South Korea, the US, Canada and the UK should be the benchmark as they are the leaders in the global e-government ranking.
India is a complex and diverse nation with multiple states, multiple languages and multilayered governance structures. Whereas India has to issue UID numbers to over 100 crore residents, Estonia had to issue it to just a few lakh. India plans to establish 1,00,000 rural Common Service Centres (CSCs) across 28 states and seven union territories, but Estonia can boast of just 700 Public Access Internet Points (PAIPs) or telecentres, which is just 0.7 percent of the Indian target. There can hardly be any lesson that a vast nation like India could have learnt in e-governance from a small nation like Estonia.
Another reason for the PMO’s refusal could be that the prime minister is reportedly planning a cabinet reshuffle. If the minister’s portfolio changes in July, all lessons learnt from Estonia would go waste. So has the PM shown his foresight in putting brakes on the minister’s trip or it is just another routine matter?

But it is not clear what the minister wanted. Was he trying to get away from the heat of Delhi or the heat of 2G scam? The minister these days is said to be avoiding meetings where the media is present in order to avoid tough questions on the 2G scam. With the revenues from Broadband Wireless Access and 3G auctions crossing Rs one lakh crore, the loss from 2G (benchmarked at the 3G auctions) spectrum sale can also be pegged at over Rs one lakh crore.

Now that the trip has been cancelled, the minister may explore using the e-governance route of videoconferencing or webcast to learn more about e-governance in Estonia. Anyway, we have a lesson for the minister. The governance part is more important than the ‘e’ part in e-governance!

Comments

 

Other News

Targeting root causes of cancer with green policies

The Budget 2025 was splashed across headlines with its innumerable numbers and policies, but lurking behind the balance sheets is a threat that it has not accounted for yet — the silent, merciless clutches of cancer. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that it remains one of humanity`s mo

Congress needs course correction: Prithviraj Chavan

Prithviraj Chavan, a former Maharashtra chief minister and veteran Congress leader, feels his party has probably failed to provide a viable alternative to the government, and it needs a course correction. “I do acknowledge that the Congress party may have failed to provide the alternat

Major haul of illegal arms and ammunition in Manipur

In a significant breakthrough, Manipur Police, in a joint operation with Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the Indian Army, and Assam Rifles, recovered a massive cache of illegal arms, ammunition, and explosives during coordinated search operations across five valley districts in the intervening night o

PM visits crash site, meets the injured

Prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited the Air India flight crash site in Ahmedabad to assess the situation first-hand. He met officials and emergency response teams working tirelessly in the aftermath of the disaster. He also condoled the loss of numerous lives in the tragic air accident. He con

Air India flight crashes in Ahmedabad

The Air India flight to London crashed in Ahmedabad within munites of the take-off Thursday afternoon. There were 232 passengers and 10 crew members aboard, and reports suggest there was slim chances of anyone surviving. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed and exploded in a fireball barely out

Cabinet approves two multitracking projects of Railways

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved two projects of the railways ministry with a total cost of Rs. 6,405 crore. These projects include:  1. Koderma – Barkakana Doubling (133 Kms): The project sec

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now





Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter